Fund involving diverse range of investors invests private capital in clean power infrastructure assets across Europe.
Global investor Legal & General (L&G) and leading renewable energy specialist NTR have announced total commitments of €607m at the final close of the L&G NTR Clean Power (Europe) Fund, which invests private capital in clean power infrastructure assets to support Europe’s ambitious decarbonisation and energy security agenda.
As an Article 9 fund under the European Union’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, the fund seeks to offer attractive returns alongside a sustainable development objective – promoting the transition to a low carbon and more sustainable future. A diverse group of investors from across Europe and Japan have committed to the fund, spanning pension funds, insurers, sovereign wealth funds, banks, fund managers, endowments and foundations.
The strong participation in the fund – which is already generating revenue through six of its 11 assets – reflects increasing investor demand for strategies that offer not only strong returns but also alignment with their sustainability objectives and with long-term trends. That participation includes recent investment from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, whose mandate is to invest on a commercial basis in a manner designed to support Irish economic activity and employment.
In a new departure, the fund has also provided L&G’s 5.5 million UK defined contribution (DC) members with the opportunity to access the European energy transition through the L&G Private Markets Access Fund, which aims to provide UK DC members with diversified private markets exposure. Private markets has emerged as a major investment theme as investors increasingly recognise the potential for long-term growth and greater diversification through exposure to investments and strategies that are not typically accessible through public markets, like the L&G NTR Clean Power (Europe) Fund.
With a supportive policy backdrop, and the European transition representing a €1tn+ annual investment opportunity over the next five years, the fund aims to further expand its portfolio in Europe, deploying capital in new investments across its target sectors.
First launched in 2023, the fund provides diversified exposure across proven technologies in wind, solar and energy storage through acquisition of assets at different lifecycle stages of development, construction and operation. Over the course of a year, its portfolio commitments to date can generate 1,631 GWhrs of clean energy – enough to power over 295,000 homes – and avoid 187,440 tonnes of CO2.
The fund combines L&G’s history in private markets and scale as a major global investor with NTR’s expertise and long-term track record as a specialist clean power asset manager. To date, the fund has successfully invested circa €385m in 11 assets – six of which are fully operational – across six European countries. These include three recently announced transactions – a 55MW battery storage project in Finland and two pre-operational solar and BESS projects in Ireland that, once built by NTR, will add circa 445 MW of clean energy capacity.
Bill Hughes, global head of private markets at L&G, said: “The successful final close of the fund reflects an increasing acknowledgement that private markets investments can offer not only strong returns, but also avenues for institutional investors to address major social and environmental challenges, without compromising on their commercial objectives. By leveraging L&G’s investment expertise and NTR’s sector knowledge, we are well-positioned to continue delivering long-term value for our investors and to further our commitment to supporting Europe’s energy transition.”
Rosheen McGuckian, CEO of NTR, said: “We are delighted to have already put almost 70% of the fund to work across 1 GW of wind, solar and energy storage assets, generating attractive returns for our investors. By locating opportunities at the different stages of the asset lifecycle, we are creating a portfolio that is both yielding from an early stage in the fund as well as seeking capital growth as newly built assets come onstream.”
